US investment news lifts HAG shares

The group said that the investment process was expected to be completed within the next three months. On the same day, the group””s shares HAG rose 1.6 per cent in value, with each share being listed at VND25,500 ($1.2).



Doan Nguyen Duc, the group chairman and founder, said that he was delighted to have GEM as a shareholder and strategic investor, adding it will pave the way for other US-based investors to do business with the group in the future.



Duc pointed out that HAG””s results suggested that the agricultural business in the Indochina region was on the right track, and could have enormous potential for future growth.



According to HAG, the investment agreement was advised and successfully arranged by the US-based Asia Global Capital Group and the local Bamboo Capital Group.



Established in 1993 as a small wooden furniture producer, HAG is now one of Viet Nam””s largest diversified companies with total market capitalisation of $1 billion.



At present, HAG owns more than 100,000 hectares of land in Indochina, of which two-thirds are being used to grow rubber, sugarcane and corn, besides palm trees. The group is going to complete its palm oil processing plant in Cambodia and a sugar industrial complex in Laos by 2015. The rest of the land will be used for dairy and beef cattle breeding, as well as for growing more palm trees.



Recently, HAG co-operated with Viet Nam””s market leader in dairy manufacturing and food processing to raise cows and bulls for both meat and milk production in the central highlands of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia to meet domestic and export demands.